Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1887-09-08


lamb hast thou given us-an innocent
child, nurtured in Thy acknowledgement
now she lies meath the shadow of the
sword, in danger of fearful death at the
hands of cruel men. Be with her now, oh
God, and comfort her! Save her, oh Heav-
emily Father! Oh God of battle, who teach
eth our hands to war and our fingers to
fight, in whose men lie the destinies of
men, be Thou with us in the hour of strife
/ When we go forth into the shadow of
death, make Thou US strong to conquer.
Breathe Thou upon our foes and scatter
them; turn Thou their strength to water,
and bring their high-blown pride to nought;
compass us about with Thy protection;
throw over us the shield of Thy power; for
| get Us not now in the hour of our sore dis
tress; help us now that the cruel man
would dash our little ones against the
stones! Hear Thou our prayerl And for
| those of us who, kneeling now on earth in
| health before Thee, shall at the sunrise
adore Thy Presence on the Throne, hear
our prayer! Make them clean, oh God!
wash away their offenses in the blood of
the Lamb; and when their spirits pass, oh
receive Thou them into the haven of the
| just Go forth, o Father, go forth with
US into the battle, as with the Israelites of
old. God of battles, hear Thou our prayer!'
He ceased; and after moments silence
we all rose, and then began our prepare
| lions in good earnest. AS Umslopogaas
said. ltWas time to stop talking and get to
business. The men who were to form each
little party were carefully selected, and
still more carefully and infinitely instruct
ed as to what was to be done. After much
consideration it was agreed that the ten
men led by Good, whose duty was to STAN
pede the camp, were not to carry firearms;
this is with the exception of Good himself
who had revolver as well as short sword
the Nasal 'sime" which [ had taken
from the body Of our poor servant who was
murdered in the canoe. We feared that if
they had firearms, the result of three cross
fires carried on at once would be that some
OF our own people would be shot; besides.
1t appeared to all Of US that the work they
had to do would best be carried out with
cold steel-especially to UmslopOgaas, who
was, indeed, q great advocate of cold steel.
We had with us four Winchester repeating
rifles. besides half a dozen Martins. /
armed myself with one of the repeaters-
my own; an excellent weapon for this kind
of work, where great rapidity Of fire is de-
sirable, and fitted with ordinary fap-sights,
instead of the usual cumbersome sliding
mechanism which they generally have
MIR. Mackenzie took another, and the two
remaining ones were given to two of his
men who understood the use of them and
were noted shots. The Martins and some
rifles Of Mr.. Mackenzie's We're served out
together with plentiful supply of ammu-
milton; to the other natives who were to
form the two parties whose duty it was to
be to open fire from separate sides on the
sleeping Nasal, and who were, fortunately,
all more or less accustomed to the use of a
gun.
AS for Umslopogaas, we knew how he
was armed-with an AK. 1t may be re-
membered that he, Sir Henry, and the
strongest of the ASkari were to hold the
thOrn-stOpped entrance to the kraal against
the anticipated rush of men striving to
escape. OF course, for such a purpose as
this guns were useless. Therefore Sir
Henry and the Askari proceeded to arm
themselves in like fashion. 1t so happened
that Mr.. Mackenzie had in his little store
q selection Of the very best steel English
made hammer-backed aX-heads. Sir Henry
selected one Of these, weighing about two
and half pounds and very broad in the
blade, and the AskaIi took another q size
smaller. After Umslopogaas had put an
extra edge on these two aX-heads we pro-
ceeded to fix them to three feet six helveS,
of which Mr.. Mackenzie fortunately had
some in stock, made Of light but exceed
ingly tough native wood, something like
English ash, only more springy. When
two suitable pieces had been selected with
great care, and the ends Of the haft nOtched
to prevent the han from slipping, the ak
heads were fixed on them as firmly as
possible, and the weapons immersed in
bucket Of water for half an hour. The re-
suit of this was to swell the wood in the
socket in such a fashion that nothing short
Of burning would get it out again. When
this important mater ha6 been attended
to by Umslcpogaas, I went into my room
and proceeded to open little tin-lined deal
case, which had not been undOne since we
left England, and which contained-what
do you think?-nothing more OR less than
four mail shirts.
1t had happened to Us three, on a previ-
Gus journey that we had made in another
part Of Africa, to owe our lives to iron
shirts Of native make: and, remembering
this, L had suggested before we started on
our present hazardous expedition that we
should have some made to fit US There
was little difficulty about this, as armor-
making is pretty well an extinct art; but
they can do most things in the way Of
steel-Work in Birmingham, if they are put
to it and you will pay the price, and the
end of it was that they turned Us out the
loveliest steel shirts it is possible to see.
The workmanship was exceedingly fine,
the web being composed of thousands upon
thousands Of stout but tiny rings, Of the
best steel made. These shirts, or rather
steel-sleeved and high-necked jerseys, were
lined with ventilated wash-leather, were
not bright, but Drowned like the barrel of
a gun; and mine weighed exactly seven
pounds, and fitted me so well that found
[ could wear it for days next my skin with |
out being chafed. Sir Henry had two one
of the ordinary make, viz, a jersey with
little dependent flaps, meant to afford some |
protection to the upper part of the thighs, |
and another of his own design, fashioned
on the pattern of the garment advertised as
combinations" and weighing twelve
pounds This combination shirt, of which
the seat was made Of wash-leather, pro-
thu 10 1ovr-71 fo IzTooc